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Gardening

hifilover1979 said:
Re the brassicas; you MUST keep them under netting until the plants are strong then the caterpillars will do some damage, but not a lot as they can't eat that much. Or, just leave the netting up
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Thanks for that. I've reduced my 'crop' to three plants which will overwinter and see how they go. I can try again next year. I've long thought that a decent cheap source of netting is those shower body scrubber thingies. They cost about 50p and unwind to a few of metres of 1 metre wide fine mesh.

I've had no success with carrots this year. Not carrot fly.. they just don't grow. Very odd. A couple of years back I had huge crops of them in pots.

Beets are OK.

OTOH, this years crop of Runner Beans have been very nice, and very productive. Good old Scarlet Emperor. I tried 'Moonlight' last year but they were no more than 'OK'.
Cucumbers. Outdoor variety 'Marketmore', has been brilliant in a tub..especially since they were planted late.

Tomatoes. My brother got Dobies to send me three each of grafted 'Crimson Crush', and bush variety 'Bella'. Crimson Crush is a superb outdoor 'cordon' Tom, which I grow in big pots, against the sunny back wall of the house. It produces large fleshy toms, with great flavour and few seeds. Some are a good 1lb weight. Bella produces huge numbers of little cherry toms..such that the neighbours started hiding as I tried to give them away...
 
Mike Reed said:
The flutterby is the only sequence in their reproductive cycle which can be admired. The ecological cattypillars eat green but shit black; this is obscene but not turd.



I've a very long hose but my garden is unfortunately a lot longer. However, you've given me the idea to use the watering can to de-poo de brassica now that little grey water is required for watering plants. Exc. year for runner and French beans this year, and a heck of a crop of sweet peppers; all shapes, colours and sizes. Lousy year for tom's though.
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Yup; crap for toms for everyone I think. I staggered the growth too and it made no difference...

Re hoses; I've one main hose for the water butt pump I use and then one for the back tap... Fortunately both just long enough to cover the whole of the main area of the garden where I grow all the veg etc
 
Mullardman said:
Thanks for that. I've reduced my 'crop' to three plants which will overwinter and see how they go. I can try again next year. I've long thought that a decent cheap source of netting is those shower body scrubber thingies. They cost about 50p and unwind to a few of metres of 1 metre wide fine mesh.

I've had no success with carrots this year. Not carrot fly.. they just don't grow. Very odd. A couple of years back I had huge crops of them in pots.

Beets are OK.

OTOH, this years crop of Runner Beans have been very nice, and very productive. Good old Scarlet Emperor. I tried 'Moonlight' last year but they were no more than 'OK'.
Cucumbers. Outdoor variety 'Marketmore', has been brilliant in a tub..especially since they were planted late.

Tomatoes. My brother got Dobies to send me three each of grafted 'Crimson Crush', and bush variety 'Bella'. Crimson Crush is a superb outdoor 'cordon' Tom, which I grow in big pots, against the sunny back wall of the house. It produces large fleshy toms, with great flavour and few seeds. Some are a good 1lb weight. Bella produces huge numbers of little cherry toms..such that the neighbours started hiding as I tried to give them away...
Click to expand...

Carrots can be very fickle; could be your soil is too acid or too alkaline etc...

They can grow well in pots; but they need to be deep and ideally mixed with some sand
 
Great crop of tomatoes this year, grown in very large pots against a south facing wall, I've made soup, it's in the freezer.
 
hifilover1979 said:
Yup; crap for toms for everyone I think
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gintonic said:
both next doors either side if us had good crops. My dad had loads.
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Darren L said:
Great crop of tomatoes this year,
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No problem with quantity, though they took a long time to ripen on withering plants. The flavour was okay but the sweetness was not there. We freeze (skins off) as much as poss. for various tomato dishes during the winter whilst preparing as much basic ratatouille with courgettes, basil etc. during the season; again, for winter meals. Oddly, courgettes, both yellow and green, have been good (if a bit late) and I'm about to pick the last.

After having trouble getting 'new' F1 seed varieties last winter, I grew some 'ordinaries' like Gard. Delight and Alicante etc. as well as my annual favourites, Sungold and Shirley. Next year I'll be sticking to these two, plus another yet to be determined.

Sungold (Gard. Delight size) are out or in, superb germinators, are early fruiting and have a long prolific season, are v. sweet with a delightful tomato 'tang'. (approx. 10 seeds per pkt ).

Shirley (med + size) are a bit more tricky to germinate, are slower growing and later harvesting, but their intense flavour and dark crimson flesh are worth waiting for. (approx. 6 seeds per pkt ).

I used to do between 12 and 15 varieties, mostly F1 hybrids but always struggled with potting on nearly 150 healthy plants, many of which I gave away. Times have changed !
 
I've no idea what variety they are @Mike Reed but I'll ask Tracy, she's the gardening boss, I'm just the labourer, oddly enough I thought they were very sweet, they are a very small variety, what I'd call 'cherry' tomatoes. I just decided to make soup so they didn't get wasted and I know it can be frozen.

Just asked, she doesn't remember, brain fog, lol
 
hifilover1979 said:
Carrots can be very fickle; could be your soil is too acid or too alkaline etc...

They can grow well in pots; but they need to be deep and ideally mixed with some sand
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Well yes...you'd think so. My first crops were just seed on top of tall pots about 9" diam. Planted in ordinary potting compost, they literally distorted the pots, they grew so well. And no thinning.
So.. the next year I mixed the compost with about 30% sand..though admittedly it was only building sand.. not fancy 'sharp', or 'silver' sand. I planted in plastic storage crates with holes drilled, and raised up to above carrot fly cruising altitude. Result. Nothing. A few sickly little roots.
Went back to compost in tall pots last year. A few very slow growing roots. Not worth the effort. Same this year, so tried a row in the soil, carefully spaced so no thinning needed. Result. Slow growing and damaged by something, though not carrot fly. Variety 'Early Nantes'
 
mandryka said:
Thank you, gentlemen, for reminding me of all the reasons why I stopped growing vegetables.
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Turnip up, man! Growing veggies is creative nutrition to us human beans.

Darren L said:
Just asked, she doesn't remember, brain fog, lol
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There are lots of cherry tom's, Darren, the most well-known being Gardeners' Delight. Sungold is almost impossible to find as a plant in shops and at 10 seeds per £3+ packet, not cheap. Well worth getting, though.
 
mandryka said:
Thank you, gentlemen, for reminding me of all the reasons why I stopped growing vegetables.
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Yes, my parents were well into this in my youth, my dad still enjoys his allotment. I hated gardening as a kid, still dislike it. Fruit trees are good. I really, really can't be bothered with vegetables. Half the time you end up eating them too ripe or not ripe enough.
 
We used to have a vegetable garden in our lower garden, but then they built a house next door on the vacant block that put this garden in shade for much of the day. Our elder daughter had the idea - a Japanese garden. So she studied up the feng shui principles and we got the appropriate Japanese plants, the water element, the little stone temple up on a hill, a raked gravel pond. It's not a patch on the real things, of course, but it is a nice, restful place. The best example of a Japanese garden in Europe is, curiously, at the Irish National Stud in Kildare.

https://irishnationalstud.ie/attraction/japanese-gardens/

It is magnificent, and well worth a visit, should you be in the vicinity.
 
tones said:
We used to have a vegetable garden in our lower garden, but then they built a house next door on the vacant block that put this garden in shade for much of the day. Our elder daughter had the idea - a Japanese garden. So she studied up the feng shui principles and we got the appropriate Japanese plants, the water element, the little stone temple up on a hill, a raked gravel pond. It's not a patch on the real things, of course, but it is a nice, restful place. The best example of a Japanese garden in Europe is, curiously, at the Irish National Stud in Kildare.

https://irishnationalstud.ie/attraction/japanese-gardens/

It is magnificent, and well worth a visit, should you be in the vicinity.
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I love a Japanese style garden so thanks for the recommendation. I like the one at Tatton Park a lot, I've also visited the one in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach, Florida.
 
stevec67 said:
Fruit trees are good. I really, really can't be bothered with vegetables. Half the time you end up eating them too ripe or not ripe enough.
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First time I've heard veggies described as ripe, but an interesting concept. You still have the other half of time to enjoy them though. :D
 
An escapee? Or maybe just hungry? Many years ago I lived in a house which backed onto Lord O'Neil's estate, one morning a large deer came bounding across the garden, I was surprised both by how fast it moved and how large it was, beautiful animals though.
 
Darren L said:
An escapee? Or maybe just hungry? Many years ago I lived in a house which backed onto Lord O'Neil's estate, one morning a large deer came bounding across the garden, I was surprised both by how fast it moved and how large it was, beautiful animals though.
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No they're wild. We back onto Cockshot Woods; which leads into Dogkennel Woods and then down to Avenham; so basically we're surrounded by woodland and there are lots of deer... But were one of the few houses that haven't completely fenced off the back garden into the woods... So TBH they're more than welcome..

They don't like veg; they like the sweeter stuff, so they're welcome to the windfall :)
 
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